"Nice to see 7 different Directors buying in approx £240k at these SP levels."

Meh. An average of only £30k-odd a head screams "chump change" to me. You wannae see at least £100k a head and preferably £500k a head before one can genuinely feel "Yes, these guys really DO believe in the company's prospects, so it is safe for me to commit some of MY spare change to this mob".

LKH on the flybridge how 'bout turnin' Boscombe Down into a drag racing site at weekends?

"Still can't believe the SP and neither can the Directors who were buying recently."

Normally I view directors' buys very favourably, but there is no doubt that there were a lot of shareholders who were strongly opposed to the screw that these chaps pay themselves. Consequently it is possible that the chairman said "Come on, chaps, let's dig deep and actually buy a few shares rather than vote ourselves cheap 'uns, otherwise the punters will think we're only out for oursen".

To be fair to QQ, the first page of their website shows a woman employee getting a gong from Brenda in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, and a rather creepy photograph attached to a blog called "International Women in Engineering Day 2017" so mebbe the distaff side is beginning to be taken onto the QQ payroll these days.

Too right. I had to deal with QQ when they were on the point of being sold off by the government. They were run by a combination of ex-army and ex-civil service chappies (and I do mean chappies, I never did meet any females there). I did not meet anyone with any entrepreneurial experience or experience of running a small business. Doubt things have changed much.

Not a problem for Long Term Shareholders, who take this as a buying opportunity. Looking at the 5 year chart there has been similar periods of SP pull back, but the overall trajectory is upwards.

When Goldman Sachs indicate a BUY, as they have done recently, Mr Market can let other participants in..........

I'm adding on weakness.

Jack

----------------------------------

Defence and technology group QinetiQs shares dived almost 9pc on Wednesday after it warned of an order slowdown.

In a trading update ahead of its annual meeting, the FTSE 250 business called the trading environment dynamic  especially in the UK after the snap election  with both opportunities and challenges that result in near-term unpredictability of orders.

Investors took fright at the news, with shares in the company, which runs services such as missile test ranges and the test pilot training school for the MoD, suffering their biggest drop in almost a year to 250.10p. QinetiQ shares have tracked steadily downwards since hitting an all-time high of 319.7p in May.

The update said revenues for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) services business  which makes up almost 80pc of total sales  were similar to a year ago but cautioned that orders have been slower than expected with some customer contract award decisions deferred or delayed.

The smaller global business was in a similar position but QinetiQ said despite the slower orders it still expected overall revenue growth during the year.

QinetiQ repeated its warning that the Single Source Regulations Office, which aims to crack down on price gouging by companies supplying the MoD, continues to present a headwind for operating margins.

The share price crash comes after QinetiQ shares surged more than 5pc on Monday, with Investec releasing an note the following day in which it upgraded the business from Hold to Buy, calling the share price weakness unjustified.

In the note, analyst Rami Myerson said QinetiQ shares had performed poorly since reassuring preliminary results in May, down 18pc and underperforming UK peers".

"We see no specific reason given the contracted visibility in EMEA services for 2018 improving medium term outlook for Global products.

The sudden rise and fall of the shares around the release of the update has raised eyebrows, with some analysts describing it as an over reaction.

According to the FCA website, there are no significant short positions in QinetiQs shares

held this for many years but despite its involvment in so called cutting edge technology seems
to be incapable of breaking out of its former public sector origins - probably due to former civil
servants clinging on after privatisation.

Jack, think your post a little premature, not a good day sp wise why 9pc fall today. Did think a few weeks ago this was looking great when it got to £3.22, just goes to show there times when greed gets the better of us all!!!

Nice to see some strong results for a change and a pleasure to read through the full year financials.

Good organic growth, strong Order book and plenty of opportunities.

Capital allocation and progressive dividend policy works well for me.

Jack

Capital allocation

Priorities for capital allocation are:
1. Organic investment complemented by bolt-on acquisitions where there is a strong strategic fit;
2. The maintenance of balance sheet strength;
3. A progressive dividend; and
4. The return of excess cash to shareholders.

The £50m share repurchase, which was announced in November 2015, was completed by 31 March 2017.

Dividend

The Board proposes a final dividend of 4.0p (2016: 3.8p) making the full-year dividend 6.0p (2016: 5.7p). Subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting, the final dividend will be paid on 1 September 2017 to shareholders on the register at 4 August 2017. The full year dividend represents an increase of 5% in line with the Group's progressive dividend policy.

If you look at the 5 year chart, long term Shareholders have not been disappointed. Clearly the SP doesn't go up in a straight line, and we have been hitting new highs recently, so some traders may cash in now after good gains.

However, I think this still has some way to go to find a new range. £3 was a Psychology barrier to break but it should run on from here.

Results due 25 May, trading already confirmed as expected, highly cash generative, excellent Order Backlog underpins the next 12 months , acquisition of the Meggitt Division was reported as earnings enhancing, Share buy back has the Total Voting Rights down at 567.2M shares and therefore progressive dividend policy on much fewer shares in issue.

They are buying these shares back so quick, they are even getting confused with their own RNS.

Sloppy QQ........please sort this out

Don't know if a declaration is required.....or not!!!

Jack

RNS 01 Mar 2017

Therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company as at 28 February 2017 is 570,488,351. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the DTRs.

RNS 27 Feb 2017

Following the above purchase, the Company holds 4,515,868 Shares in treasury and has 570,343,735 Shares in issue (excluding treasury shares).

The above figure of 570,343,735 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they can determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

It seems Donald Trump has given Meggitt plc (LON:MGGT) something to look forward to as the new US President has pledged to increase defence spending by a record $54bn.

Meggitt said it expects between 2-4% of organic revenue growth in 2017 as its military division stands to benefit from the new US administrations planned injection.

The British engineer, which specialises in aerospace, defence and energy markets, reported a 7% drop in statutory pre-tax profit in the year to 31 December 2016 on costs associated with the acquisitions of Cobham and ADAC. In turn the acquisitions contributed to revenues, which rose 21% on a reported basis. Shares were up 12.52% in afternoon trade.

QQ have little problems buying 480,000 shares yesterday at an average of £2.747

Total £1.318M

I think we are seeing QQ move up to another trading range and I would expect that to be £2.90 - £3.20 before they rest for breath. The 5 year chart is pleasing to read.

31 March 16 saw EPS at 16.3p and the Dividend at 5.7p on 583.7M shares in issue (Down from 602.6M at 01 Apr 2015).

We are now at 571.5M, with a further £11.7M buy back kitty to go. The Meggitt transaction was expected to be EPS accretive in the first year of ownership. Highly cash generative and growing business, 90% of Revenues outside the UK which QQ could springboard from.

QQ themselves have secured a number of excellent contract wins over the last 12 months.

It's nice to see JPM agreeing with me (although a tad on the low side!!!)

RCP is an excellent choice. It's been on my watch list since I was wearing short trousers. The price keeps rising. It's the same with SMT and CLDN. I have caught up with BGS and FGT though.

I have been expecting to pay fees on my trust holdings but none paid so far. Certainly you would pay if entering the funds directly rather than buying them as shares.

I have shown an interest in QQ over some years but never bought any shares. I have seen it tipped recently due to its solid cash flow and potentially improving dividend. However, I still don't feel tempted to buy. The fall in price today may have been influenced by the share price collapse of Cobham in the same sector.

I've got some of Jake Rothschild's RIT Capital Partners, which has done me proud over the years. Jake has around a quarter of a BILLION spondoolies of his own chump change invested in it and his daughter Hannah has a few bob in it as well.

No-one can ever go too far wrong by clingin' like a demented succubus onto the Rothschild coattails, my humble. RCP gives one access to opportunities that one cannot buy directly, so it should be a nice counterbalance to "normal" FTSE companies.

Don't mind me barging in I hope but I have bought some Whitbread recently at around 3600. The Costa side of the business might come under pressure over the next year due to the weak gbp and rise in the minimum wage. It also depends on whether the UK economy suffers depression. In spite of that, the business model looks good to me and it beats them Yanky Starbucks into a cocked hat.

Other than that, I am steering clear of retail although them supermarkets have recovered somewhat. Currently I am not straining for yield but concentrating on capital protection (hopefully growth, lol).

Have you two looked into trusts? I have had some noteworthy success with LWDB, JZCP and RSE. There are stacks of options in this area and it has provided needed stability in my folio.

I used to own that but bailed out when I realised that (A) I knew nothing about women's shoes (B) Bart wossname was replaced by two ravers who looked like party animals. "They won't be interested in your divis, LK" I said to mesen.

"Dunelm -- seems like a strange choice but Andy Harrison (ex Whitbread) is now Chairman"

I've started following Dunelm as well, though I doubt I'll buy it. Furnishing for proles ain't terribly exciting is it? I've also started following Whitbread as it goes, though I'd worry that coffee is gonnae get dearer as it's priced in $ innit, whereas Costa gets £ for selling the stuff. Hotels could do well as foreigners come to Blighty for the cheap £ though whether they want to stay in hotels designed for sales reps and adulterous couples is another matter.

Jaysus, I see that QQ is actually DOWN on the day now. That'll teach me for posting the Bonanza theme tune!

Good idea, I've run my slide rule over it a few times and never taken the plunge, only to look again and it's gone up -- doesn't it ever when you look back eh?

Joules is another one I quite like -- I don't wear the flowery wellies mind -- I thought it would sit quite nicely in my fashion box alongside Jimmy Choo (almost back to what I paid - ouch) and Burberry that has paid for my living and some for the last 12 months.

another one I'm going to look at in favour of dumping the rest of my Centrica loss maker is Dunelm -- seems like a strange choice but Andy Harrison (ex Whitbread) is now Chairman and he's stumped up £700K+ on the stock of late.

Yeah, come on, Devro! We need to see some action there ... can't their highly skilled fleischmeisters think up some new market sector, perhaps mount a challenge to one of Reckitt Benckiser's finest brands?

Yeah, sorry not to reply to your query on the ULVR board. I've been spending my time looking at Hotel Chocolat.

Erm, no, I've not looked at Sage as an investment though I do recall once lookin' at the price of their product when I was settin' up a small company, swallowing hard, and goin' out and buyin' a competing product from QuickBooks which was ideal for my particular purpose.

I feel that one needs to know summat about accounting software in order to evaluate Sage. And I know little about it and (puts up hand sheepishly) care less. I need to be interested in summat b4 I entrust any of my wad to it and abacus rattling fails, alas, to make the cut.

Jaysus, I've chust noticed that this puppy has come right back from this morning's enthusiasm. I guess I should have waited b4 posting the Bonaza theme tune. I'll try summat else:

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